


Price To Pay

by navaan



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Children of Earth, Community: wintercompanion, Desperation, Episode: s04e16 The Waters of Mars, Episode: s04e17-e18 The End of Time, Fear, M/M, Responsibility, Sex, timelord victorious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-09
Updated: 2011-05-09
Packaged: 2017-10-19 04:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/197124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the Doctor after the events of WoM had set out to change the events of CoE after all? Time Lord Victorious/Children of Earth</p>
            </blockquote>





	Price To Pay

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the [](http://wintercompanion.livejournal.com/profile)[**wintercompanion**](http://wintercompanion.livejournal.com/)  2011 Jack/Doctor Bingo Fest. All entries can be found [](http://wintercompanion.livejournal.com/159696.html)**here**.

It was all over before it had even begun. Children started to behave strangely, someone seemed to be targeting Jack and Torchwood, but hadn’t been doing a very good job of it. Something didn’t feel right about it and Ianto was looking into it at the moment. It seemed someone was interfering with government officials and UNIT, trying to get some staff fired, influencing promotions. UNIT seemed to think the someone was the Doctor, but couldn't really back up their suspicions If someone had tried to interfere with Torchwood business wasn’t really clear..

But Jack couldn’t shake a feeling of unease. Something else was going on.

Although he wished nothing more than to be wrong just this once, he ended up a living bomb that very same day, blowing up the Hub along the way.

\--

When Jack woke up, he was disoriented and confused for a second, because this cell really looked like a room of the Tardis. Only the soft characteristic humming of the ship finally made him realize that it wasn’t just like the Tardis - it _was_ the Tardis. And the Doctor was looking down at him with a serious expression. Jack nearly chocked in surprise, nearly dying in the most undignified way right after reviving.

Something was seriously wrong. He didn’t know how he knew it, but there was something altogether to serious in the Doctor’s eyes that he couldn’t place at all.

When the Doctor didn’t say anything, Jack finally asked, “What’s wrong?”

The Doctor winced and Jack thought, that maybe he should have started by saying “hello” and “thank you for getting my remains” or something similar, but he’d rather just find out what was going on.

“I’ve decided that it’s best _you_ make an informed decision.”

“About what?” The Doctor threw him a folder. “UNIT?” he asked looking down at it. “What do we have to do with UNIT?”

“Just read,” the Doctor told him, with an audible snort.

“You wouldn’t happen to be the certain someone that recently tried to interfere with both Torchwood and UNIT?” He didn’t bother to hide his anger, but took a look at the file, regretting ever looking at it right away. A picture of Ianto’s dead body, the site of the Hub that was nothing but a hole in the ground, realizing that he’d dealt with these aliens before and had given them children... “What the..?”

“You're not finished. You’ll want to know how you managed to avert Earth’s children to be taken.” The Doctor’s voice was cold and factual. It reminded Jack vaguely of someone else.

“I killed my grandson?” Steven? He could feel his hands shaking. “And this has happened already?” It was a stupid question, considering he was sitting inside a time machine, but he suddenly feared he’d slept through all of this, even if the records stated his obvious involvement.

“It’s a fixed point,” The Doctor explained. His eyes where shining with a feverish determination. “I can change it. I’m the only guardian of time left in the universe and I can change it, if I want to. Time is mine now.” And with a jolt Jack remembered who the Doctor reminded him of: The Master. But surely the Doctor wasn’t going down that path?

“I changed another fixed point just now.” He faltered. Something must have happened then. “But I thought it should be your choice, not mine.”

Jack looked at the picture of Ianto, thought about the complicated relationship he had with his daughter and grandchild, Gwen’s pregnancy... There was really only one decision. “Change it, please.”

“Time is mine,” the Doctor repeated and a chill went down Jack’s spine. “I won’t let you lose this life and the people you love, don’t worry.” All that made perfect sense to Jack, but it also sounded bitter and dangerous and strangely not like the Doctor at all.

\--

It was all over before it had ever really started. Jack never really found out what it was the Doctor had done, but one minute the alien ship was hovering over London the next it was gone. Ianto looked at him and smiled. “That was easy. Whatever made them run, before we ever charged in, guns blazing?”

Something twisted painfully in his stomach. He couldn’t forget the picture of Ianto’s dead body. He’d never be able to forget it now.

Gwen smiled at her husband and then at Jack. “So when do we start rebuilding?”

They'd never know how all their lives would have changed today. But Jack would forever know. And although he did feel thankful that he and his loved one’s had been spared, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had allowed something awful to take place.

\--

Ianto had invited him to stay at his place, because now that the Hub had been destroyed, Jack had nowhere to go. His lover wanted him to meet his sister, too, and Jack felt that all of this was happening to fast and at the wrong time. But how could he explain that to his lover who wasn't aware what had happened today? So he decided to stay at a hotel near the ruins of the Hub. There was no time to be wasted in holding back the scavengers that had been waiting for Torchwood’s secrets to be exposed like this. He did take the time to check in with his daughter and make sure that Steven was all right.

Then he went to take a quick shower and when he left the bathroom, he wasn’t overly surprised to find the Doctor standing in the middle of the room, looking dishevelled and tired. His eyes held a slightly crazed expression, though.

“Hey,” Jack said unsure of what he really should be saying. The feeling of unease just wouldn’t leave him. And standing in a strange hotel room in nothing but a towel with a Doctor who wasn’t acting like himself, didn’t really help him forget how this day could have ended. Could still end if Jack's gut feeling wasn't wrong.

“Hello,” the Doctor answered. His voice held excitement. “I’ve won.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Against time. This time I really won. Fixed point is changed and future is intact. Nobody is dead. It worked. This time it worked.”

Jack swallowed before he phrased his question carefully: “Was time unravelling?”

“No. Humanities future was falling apart in places, but that’s fixed now. Everything goes the way it’s supposed, too. Everything. I knew I could do it. No need to fix things right here. I only had to control all the places that would feel the fall out.” Some fatigue crept into the excitement and Jack suddenly felt worried. “Just once, I wanted to really win,” the Doctor explained, nodding to himself as if he was having trouble convincing himself.

“Then what’s wrong?”

That startled the Doctor out of his own thoughts. “Why? Aren’t you happy?” Worry coming off him in waves.

“I’m not talking about me. Look at you. How many point in time did you have to visit? What have you been doing since leaving here? Running from one crisis to another, just so could change one fixed point? Don’t you ever _stop_?” The Doctor went pale at his words and the uneasy feeling in his gut intensified. “Oh god, what have you done? Tell me?”

“Nothing. Nothing really. I changed the outcome of this. That's what counts.”

 _For me,_ Jack thought. _He broke time’s sacred rules for me. But there must be consequences._

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Jack,” the Doctor said, his voice suddenly turning cold and dangerous again. “I’ve done it for me, too. If I have to pay the price for this, I at least want to know that I had done something that would actually last.”

So there was a price to pay. The knowledge didn’t make him feel better at all. “What’s going to happen to you now?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Maybe nothing. Who knows.”

 _He’s trying to convince himself,_ Jack thought, keeping himself from voicing the thought. _Maybe he’s even right._ But Jack couldn’t make himself believe it either. And there was only one way he knew how to reach out.

He stepped forward to lightly brush a kiss against the Doctor’s cheek. The Doctor looked at him annoyed and a little suspicious. Jack considered stepping back and leaving it at that, but the Doctor closed the gap to insistently press their lips together. And suddenly Jack found himself pressed against the wall, a cool tongue seeking entry against his lips. He didn’t need the prodding to open his mouth to the kiss, happy to finally focus on a feeling that was not the building dread that had been knotting up his gut all day.

This was real. Here and now. Everyone was all right. Nobody died today. Not today.

The Doctor pulled away to look at him. His face was unreadable and Jack half feared he’d just run out on him now. But then he cleared his throat and said in a throaty whisper: “Maybe I won’t always be there. But I was there today and I’m here now. That’s all I can promise you.”

There was no satisfying answer, not when he was trying so hard _not_ to think about the dangers of tomorrow. “Here and now.” He nodded and ground against the Doctor. “But let’s not talk. No talking now, no thinking... Please.”

He tried to pull the Doctor against him again, but he didn’t let himself be moved, eerily still staring at Jack intently. It was easy to forget how much stronger a Time Lord was when you looked at the slender body of the Doctor. He wouldn't be himself if he wouldn't admit that this was incredibly sexy and he’d never really thought this could happen. The circumstances could be better, of courser.

“No thinking. Right,” the Doctor chuckled with a wry smile and finally gave in, kissing Jack hungrily. Jack pulled away the towel that was the only thing still covering him anyway. The Doctor made a soft growling sound against his mouth, moving backwards, but Jack was not about to let him pull away again. Instead he started pulling at the Doctor’ clothes. Too many clothes against his naked body. He wanted to feel skin. Skin on skin. But the Doctor was still holding him against the wall, not letting him do anything about it.

Jack bent forward to bite at the Doctor’s neck hard. Back arching, grunting, the Doctor was finally moving, throwing away his Jacket and Jack didn’t lose time ripping his shirt. They sank to the floor in an ungraceful heap, hands exploring, grasping, tearing at each other. This wasn’t loving or tender, but so much better, exactly what both of them needed. Tension breaking lose into heat and desperation and the need not to be alone.

He bit the Doctor’s neck again, just to get another reaction out of him, and groaned out loud when a hand finally found his crotch. He opened his eyes to look at the Doctor, didn’t like the strange light he found shining in the brown eyes. A hint of panic, fear. Trying to make it better he stroked his hands along the strong body above him and brought their mouths back together in a furious kiss. The Doctor shuddered and moaned at his touch, pulling away to nibble at his shoulder. He arched up, happy to feel the Doctor’s attention back on him. And he was determined to keep it this time, kissing, stroking, caressing, urging him on, everything to finally get the Doctor inside him. Not bothering to slow down, the Doctor pushed forward and Jack groaned in bliss, getting what he wanted at last. He felt lost in his own desire, setting the pace for both of them.

Above him the Doctor hissed, nearing his own climax, shuddering, whispering strange words, he’d never ever heard before. Jack couldn’t help put stare in fascination at the Doctor’s closed eyes, lips moving softly like in prayer.

“Yes,” he whispered back, knowing it wasn’t going to be long now for both of them.

“Make me, promise,” the Doctor mumbled, “please. Make me promise... to come back...”

Jack cried out, pleasure exploding, making his head go dizzy. “Promise me!” he shouted out, pushing back against his lover hard. “Promise you’ll come back to me!”

The Doctor pushed against him frantically. “I will. I promise. I’ll come back.” In his haze of pleasure, Jack didn’t see the tears.

\--

Of course, he found himself alone the next morning. He hadn’t really expected anything else, but it made him sad. Only now did he realize that the first time he’d kissed the Doctor had been his final good-bye. A soldier going to his death. This had been the Doctor’s good-bye. He’d made a promise he wanted to, but maybe couldn't keep.

Whatever happened he’d live this life-time with his friends always knowing he’d never have been able to if the Doctor hadn’t committed a crime against the laws of time.

He’d not waste a minute of his sacrifice.

\--

He was beginning to feel the pull towards the stars again. Humanity had come so far, made its first steps into space. Torchwood had grown into a branching institute, gathering knowledge about space, the stars, history... So much more now than protectors of one little planet now and all in only a few decades. It was finally time to leave and travel again.

He looked at the picture of Gwen, Ianto and him, taken only a few years before Ianto had died. Nothing was holding him here anymore. Ianto and Gwen had been able to live good lives. And he remembered all too well, whom he had to thank for that, although he had never heard from him again.

There had been a UNIT rumour of the Doctor’s final death, but nothing conclusive. Who knew when and where the Doctor would die, if he ever did? Long ago he had made himself forget about the promise the Doctor had made: Because in the end he hadn’t come back. He’d rather think he was out there, doing the outrageous things he always did, probably not even remembering the words he’d spoken in the throws of fear and pleasure.

Smiling wistfully he took the picture from his desk. He wouldn’t need anything else from this place, now that he’d finally made a decision. He’d be leaving today. A space freighter would pick him up in an hour. All arrangements were made. Torchwood din't need him any longer.

Feeling lighter than he had in years, he left his office. He hasn't put more then a few meter between himself and the Torchwood Institute when a familiar sound made him stop in surprise. Not daring to hope, he whirled around to see a blue police box materializing only a few steps behind him. Shocked into stillness, he can’t do more than stare, hoping beyond hope that this was the right Doctor, not some earlier incarnation, not a hallucination.

The door opened to reveal a young man, wearing a brown old-fashioned tweed jacket and a silly bow-tie. “What are you staring at? Is that a way to greet an old friend, all shocked and staring?”

“Doctor?”

“I promised I’d come back.”

“You did.”

“You need a ride?”

Still somewhat surprised at the turn of events he nodded.

“Then what are you waiting for. It’s not as if we have the time to spare,” the unfamiliar Doctor said, huffing and vanishing back into the Tardis.

Jack had lived his life not wasting chances fate threw at him. Cautious, still not entirely believing this was real, he made his way to the door, his heart pounding hard in his chest.

“Ah,” a voice called from inside, “and watch your step! We’ve had a little change in interior design, too.”

So things had changed. But he was sure some things had stayed the same. And he'd not waste the time he'd be given.


End file.
